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| Third review - scroll down for earlier |
I've just reviewed a Mumbai Rain Forest from around 2015. It was predominantly a synthetic-perfume incense. Out of interest I grabbed a couple of other Satya packets to compare, and this was the first that came to hand. This box has the second Nagaraj Mumbai logo - which is somewhat different to the original Satya logo and the first Nagaraj logo.
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| Top left: original logo - Top right: Mumbai 1st Bottom left: Bangalore - Bottom right: Mumbai |
It also has the address of Nagaraj's factory in Bangalore. The premises in Mumbai were not a incense factory - they were offices, warehouse and distribution. It is likely that Nagaraj was commissioning the early incense he sold after the brother's split up in 2014. A number of those incenses, such as the Rain Forest, predominantly use synthetic fragrances, and have few characteristics of what people associate with a masala incense. The inner sleeve has an opaque whitish appearance.
The sticks area standard 8 inches long with around 6 1/2 inches of hand-rolled paste on a plain bamboo splint, and covered in a fluffy melnoorva powder - which is a tree bark or other wood powder used to stop the sticks from gluing together as they dry, and also to give an attractive and appropriate appearance. Some melnoorva powder may also be fragranced - and may be called masala powder. The stick has a mild scent. The scent is fresh and natural and woody - quite delicious. On the burn there is a warm prickly peppery scent of raw sheep's wool, which I tend to associate with the use of halmaddi - a gum resin used as a binder and diffuser of the scents in the incense. The fragrance in the burn is not clearly defined, and there is a more a general impression of "masala incense". Warm, woody, earthy, natural - slightly herby, slightly floral. Some sweat. The sweat is a warm, mainly fresh sweat on a natural garment such as a wool top. The whole is moderately sexy, moderately masculine. Pleasant and relaxing, though with just an edge of unease from the sweat and prickles. A decent though not delicious incense.
Date: Jan 2024 Score: 37
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| Second review |
After reviewing Balkrishna's Patchouli and Nagraj's Patchouli Forest side by side, and getting more familiar with Nagraj Patchouli Forest I find it to be sweeter and muskier and more pleasant and more like patchouli than I had originally thought. As of this moment (and that could change), I am more inclined toward the Patchouli Forest than Balkrishna's Patchouli, and I'm upping my score.
Date: Aug 2019 Score: 38
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| First review |
I'm alternating between the latest offerings from the Satya brothers - Nagraj Setty in Mumbai, and Balkrishna Setty in Bangalore/Bengaluru (BNG), and casually, just burning them individually, I'm not finding any significant differences. I don't think, at the moment, I could tell them apart on a blind testing. This was not true a couple of years ago, when Nagraj's incense was of a clearly inferior quality, but today (2019) the brother' output is pretty much the same. I've not yet done a side by side of the same fragrance, as they appear to keep themselves just a tad apart. So Balkrishna (BNG) has a Patchouli, while Nagraj has a Patchouli Forest. Nagraj has a Jasmine Blossom, while Balkrishna (BNG) has an Egyptian Jasmine. Etc.
This is a pleasant through fairly generic masala incense. I'm not really getting much in the way of patchouli scent, it's more of a sweet sandalwood informed by a gentle awareness of halmaddi. It's good stuff, and figures reasonably high in my list of incense reviews, but it's not really standing out from other decent quality masala. So, it's there in the middle of my Decent Everyday Stuff.
I'll review Balkrishna's Patchouli next, and then do a side by side comparison.
Date: July 2019 Score: 35
***
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| Patchouli |
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